Abstract
PROF. P. ZEEMAN, continuing his investigations on the occurrence of asymmetric separation of spectral lines in a magnetic field (see NATURE, April 30, vol. lxxvii., p. 615), describes a series of observations on asymmetrical triplets (Konink. Akad. Wetens. Amsterdam, p. 566, March 27). As a method giving independent confirmation of the previous work was desirable, he decided to investigate the new series by means of the Fabry and Perot interferometer, using the italon-that special form of the instrument in which the distance between the silvered surfaces is kept constant, about 5 mm. The variations of wavelength may in this case be determined either by continued measurements of the same interference ring or by the method of coincidences, regulating the magnetic force in such a manner that a ring which expands by increasing magnetic intensity coincides with a contracting ring. The system of rings was formed in the focal plane of a small achromatic lens of 18 mm. aperture and 12 cm. focus. This focal plane coincided exactly with the plane of the slit of a one-prism spectroscope, the width of the slit being so reduced that the rings produced by the two yellow mercury lines at 5791 and 5770 could be observed separately.
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Magnetic Resolution of Spectral Lines. Nature 78, 233 (1908). https://doi.org/10.1038/078233a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/078233a0